The Prophecy of Centra
by Jacen Starslayer
Summary: 4020 years ago, a member of the Ruling house of the Great Centran Empire had a dark vision of the future. 20 years have passed since the defeat of Ultimecia, now can the newest group of SeeD, overcome a threat foreseen thousands of years ago.
1. The Next Generation Of SeeD

"Talking"

_Thinking_

_**GF talking in their master's head.**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8. I only own the rights to my substantial Original Character Cast. If you are looking for a story involving a lot of The Original Game characters, Look elsewhere. I hate being constrained by the original characters. Also I do not own "I Touch Myself" by Eve 6, I do however own the character singing it in the shower...  
**

To everyone else, enjoy.

Rated: M for Language, adult themes and violence for later chapters, for now it is for safety.

A special thanks goes out to Xiaghua4Kilik, for agreeing to be my Beta-Reader. Lord knows I needed one.

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"HEARTILY!!!" The teacher yelled startling a brown haired boy in the back row. The kid leapt to his feet from napping.

"Where's the fire?" The boy called out, looking around the room in a panic. The class erupted into laughter, causing the brown-haired boy's face to turn red from embarrassment. His short brown hair was sticking up in random angles like he had just woken up. His navy blue Garden uniform was pressed and flawless except for the wet area on his sleeve. Realizing his mistake, he bowed politely and began speaking, "Forgive my actions Instructor Trepe, I was up all night training in the Training Center."

"Jay Heartily, You are prohibited from sleeping during my class, is that understood." The blond-haired teacher said menacingly, while adjusting her glasses. She then turned back to the projection screen and asked: "Now where were we, oh yes, the Battle of Sunite Village. According to ancient texts, a small group of Paladins from the Holy Order of Saint Andrew repulsed and eventually defeated a larger, more technologically advanced invasion army from Esthar. My question is how did these holy men achieve this feat?"

A blond-haired boy of about eighteen wearing abbreviated adamantine plate mail raised an armored hand.

"Yes Argon." Instructor Trepe asked the boy in the silvery armor.

"There were many reasons that the Knights were able to hold out against the Estharian Army . Primarily every Paladin in that task force was from the area around the Village so that they knew the layout of the land, giving them the home-field advantage. Secondly every Paladin wore a set of indestructible plate armor. Also, in comparison to the Estharian soldiers, the paladins were far superior in terms of skill. Finally, the Paladins were fighting for something greater than the forces of Esthar, the defense of the citizens of Sunite village, granting the paladins an advantage in morale. The only factor in which Esthar had over the Paladins was range, but then again the Estharian army lacked the necessary firepower to successfully penetrate the paladins's heavy armor." Argon Reinhahrt, the last Paladin of the Holy Order of Saint Andrew, said through the respirator of his abbreviated adamantine plate armor. On his chest was a black cross, the symbol of the Order. Some of the younger girls had open debates and fantasized on what was beneath his face mask. A single scar ran down the left side of his face causing him to primarily use his right eye.

"Good answer, Argon. Well look at the time, it appears that class is over. Remember everyone participating in the SeeD Field Exam on Friday, don't forget to take the requisite Fire Cavern Mission before Friday. Until tomorrow, class dismissed." Instructor Quistis Trepe said as the students flooded out of the room, before turning towards the brown-haired boy who was trying to sneak out of the classroom. "Jay Heartily, I need to have a word with you."

Hanging his head in shame, he trudged towards the front of the room.

"Yes, Instructor Trepe?" Jay said as he stood there awkwardly scratching his back of his head, as he continued. "Whatever they said that I did, I swear I didn't do!"

"What are you talking about?" Quistis asked arching her right eyebrow, suspiciously.

Jay held both of his hands up in mock surrender. "No-Nothing Instructor." Jay said innocently.

"Sure, like I buy that story. Seriously, what did you do now?" Quistis stated sarcastically. "It's not like you were the one who poured laxatives into the cafeteria's soda machine."

Jay chuckled at memory of his greatest prank. _That was a great day, especially since I got both Ramathorn and Instructor Aki with that one._

"You did, didn't you?" Quistis said with a stern look in her eye, which quickly dissolved into a sly grin. "But since Instructor Aki was knocked down a few pegs, I'll let you off with a warning."

Jay nodded solemnly, while his eyes hid a mischievous glint. "Your insight is as great as your beauty." He remarked slyly.

"Flattery will get you nowhere in Garden," She replied coldly, before smirking, "although I do appreciate the gesture. Now have you done the Fire Cavern prerequisite yet?" The blond teacher asked warmly.

"Not yet, it's hard to find a teacher who's up for it." Jay said, shaking it off as if it were nothing. "Why do you ask?"

"So like your father…" She said, her eyes glazing over for a second before she continued. "You might want to ask Instructor Kinneas. I'm taking Celeste Glen in about an hour."

"Ok, thanks for the advice, Instructor Trepe." Jay said as he headed out of the room, stopping when he made it to the door. Turning quickly his face red from embarrassment, he bashfully asked as he scratched the back of his head. "Instructor, which class does Instructor Kinneas teach?"

At this moment, Quistis had the unpredictable desire to laugh either because of the stupidity of his question or the way he asked it. "His classroom is next door. He teaches Firearms."

"Thanks Instructor!" He said as he ran next door.

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"Instructor Kinneas?" Jay asked as he entered the empty classroom. A tall middle-aged brown haired man was sleeping at his desk with a cowboy hat covering his face. When Jay got closer to the sleeping man, he noticed the he was wearing a khaki colored long jacket, a violet shirt, brown chaps over black pants, and a pair of brown riding boots. "Excuse me sir, are you Instructor Kinneas?"

"Yeah I'm Instructor Irvine Kinneas, what do ya want?" The man said as he lazily tilted his hat.

"I need an instructor to go with me to do the Fire Cavern test. My instructor, Miss Trepe referred me to you. Can you take me?" Jay said. The man gave him a hard look and returned his hat to its position covering his face.

"Before I give you an answer, tell me a little about ya." Irvine said care-freely.

"I'm Jay Heartily, Student no. 1120670. I'm a senior. My other teachers praise me by telling me that I'm a talented swordsman and spell-caster." Jay answered quickly. The older man tilted his hat to get a better look at the kid.

"You're Squall's kid, right?" Irvine asked as he sat up.

"Unfortunately." Jay answered as he hung his head.

"Talk to me." Irvine requested as he picked up Exeter, his silver shotgun.

"Everyone always wants to go easy on me, because I'm the commander's son. I mean I don't want everyone to think of me just as the Commander's son, because then they'd assume that I'd be some stuck-up prick like Ramathorn. Ooh I hate that guy. Acting all smug, it pisses me off." Jay vented, causing the room temperature to increase about ten degrees as he unconsciously released magic from his body.

"I understand what ya saying, my daughters tell me the same thing every time I see 'em." Irvine explained as he slung his silver rifle over his shoulder. "I'll take ya, meet me at the front gate in a…" He paused to look at the clock, "…half hour." Irvine said as he walked out of the classroom.

The wheels in Jay's head began whirling, _Instructor Irvine Kinneas is pretty cool._

"I just might survive this…" The brown haired swordsman remarked as he headed towards the elevator in the center of Balamb Garden.

"Bing." Was the sound that the elevator made after he hit the 'call' button. The hydraulic doors opened to reveal a girl with dirty blond hair typing into the keyboard of her cell phone, while at the same time sucking on a lollipop.

"Hey Cherea!" He said as he recognized his roommate.

Cherea Tilmitt was the school's biggest gossip and social butterfly, as well as his closest friend. She was a sixteen year old petite girl of about five foot four and he guessed (he didn't have enough of a death wish to ask…) no more than one hundred and ten pounds. Like him she was wearing the school's uniform. Her short dirty blonde hair framed her face in such a way that she appeared to be cute and innocent. Cherea was also fascinated with technology and firearms, the former made her Jay's constant companion when he would torment Ramathorn with his pranks, and the latter made her his usual back-up on training missions.

"Hey Jay!" The girl said as she stood there texting away on her cell phone, she paused as Jay entered the elevator. Looking up at the boy with the unkempt brown hair, she asked as with a cherry lollipop in her mouth: "I was wondering if you had gone to the Fire Cavern yet."

"Not yet, I was on my way to the room to grab my swords and then meet the Instructor at the front gate." Jay responded as he pressed the 'down' as the doors closed and the music started playing, he burst out laughing. The elevator's speakers played his arch-rival's voice singing with the sound of running water in the background.

"I love myself, I want you to love me. When I feel down, I want you above me. I search myself, I want you to find me. I forget myself, I want you to remind me. I don't want anybody else. When I think about you I touch myself. Ooh I don't want anybody else. Oh no, oh no, oh no. You're the one who makes me come running. You're the sun who makes me shine. When you're around I'm always laughing.  
I want to make you mine, Sa-." Then the sound of someone banging on the wall, followed by someone else's voice yelling: "Ramathorn, SHUT THE HELL UP!!! I'M TRYING TO FUCKING SLEEP HERE! YOU CAN'T SING WORTH SHIT!!!" At this point Jay and Cherea were laughing so hard that they began crying.

"Cherea that was incredible, I haven't laughed so hard since we added the laxative to the Ginger Ale." Jay remarked as he wiped away the tears from his eyes. "By the way, why did you ask about the Fire Cavern test?" He asked as he turned to his 'partner-in-crime.'

"Oh yea, with the recording I got a-little sidetracked…" She said apologetically, before turning back to her roommate with a sly grin. "Well, you know that since there are so little instructors, multiple students are allowed to take the Fire Cavern test…" She paused a second to collect herself before continuing, "I was wondering if I could join you, since I'm so tied up with the Garden Festival Committee, the Technicians' Society, Future Hackers of Balamb, and working at the Library…"

"It's fine with me. We'd better go back to the room then and prepare." Jay said as the elevator came to a stop at the ground floor and the doors opened up.

"Awesomeness! Will you come eat dinner with my sister, her roommate and me, when we get back?" She asked as she made the cutest looking face that she could. Jay sighed as they ran toward their dormitory to change and grab their weapons.

"…fine."Jay said, admitting defeat to the devious girl beside him.

"Yay! Score one for me." She said with a smile.

"Oh we keeping score now?" Jay inquired.

"Only when 'I' score a point." She answered. She then stuck out her tongue at the brunette.

"You're so going to get it one of these days."

"Ooh, is that a threat?" She asked flirtatiously.

"No, it's a promise." Jay responded as he picked up speed, passing his friend.

"Not fair! You have longer legs than me." She pouted as she tried running harder to catch up with her dense roommate. "You are such a jerk, Jay!" She said as she playfully hit her best 'male' friend in the shoulder when she finally caught up to him.

"You're the one who wanted to come with me." Jay said as he walked into his room and grabbed his swords. He tucked one of the scabbards in-between his belt and his pants. The other he draped its strap across his chest so that the scabbard would stay on his back. He un-zipped his navy blue jacket revealing his sky blue dress shirt that had the top three buttons un-buttoned. "Are you done yet?" He called to Cherea.

"Not yet. Geez, you get to be the first to see my 'battle' clothes, just give me like fifteen minutes." She called from her room.

Giving up, Jay sat down and thumbed through the latest issue of Weapons Monthly.

Fifteen minutes passed.

"You ready yet?" Jay called to his roommate, from his chair in the common room.

"Let's go." Cherea replied as she slid her door open.

Jay's jaw gapped open when he turned to look at his petite roommate.

Instead of her uniform she now wore a black halter top, a pair of black knee-high lace-up boots, black 'daisy duke' shorts, a black half-skirt that covered her right leg, and a pair of brown leather underarm pistol holsters whose straps criss-crossed across her back. Her belt had a spare magazine holder attached to it.

Jay just stood there speechless.

"Hello? Earth to Jay, return to reality." Cherea said as she waved her right hand in-front of his face.

Jay blinked his eyes a couple times before his voice returned.

"…um, wow." Jay stammered.

"What do you think of the look?" Cherea asked, smiling sweetly.

"Damnit Cherea. You trying to kill me." Jay asked his face a bright red.

"W-wha!?!" She took a step back, and began to pout. "You don't like my outfit but I put so much effort into making it."

Jay hung his head, mentally berating himself for his treatment of his closest friend.

"I'm sorry, Cherea." He apologized, before looking up at his sulking friend. "Your clothes look good on you. They just took me by surprise."

"You mean it?" Her pale face instantly lit up like a light-bulb.

"Do I lie?" Jay answered confidently. Cherea placed her right index finger to cheek, as if to think.

"Yes you do, especially to get out of trouble." She replied by crossing her arms across her chest. "Now why would you lie to a cutey, like me?" She asked herself as she cutely placed her finger to her lips to think. A few minutes later her eyes grew wide and she pointed to Jay: "You are afraid of cute, innocent me."

"What? Yeah right. Who could be afraid of you? I just was shocked at how much different your new look would look." Jay replied, his answer seemed to satisfy the dirty blonde girl.

"Different, eh? Is it a good different or a bad different?" She asked as she drew out her twin ten millimeter semi-automatic pistols from her holsters and began twirling them around her fingers.

"Good different." Jay said turning a very bright red. "A Very Good Different."

"Really? Thank you!" She said as she leapt on him and gave him a tight hug. Jay immediately turned a brighter red than he was before from the un-expected embrace.

"Well let's go." She said sliding her pistols into her holsters.

They walked out together.

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As soon as they left the room, the wolf calls started.

"Hey girl, how about you leave that guy and come hang out with me?" One guy asked Cherea, undressing her with his eyes.

"No thanks! 3" She replied dismissingly. Whispering to Jay, "Why is Garden filled with perverts?"

Shaking his head, he whispered back. "I'm sorry, it's just that your outfit makes you look really…"

"What!?! Tell me, how I look in this outfit, and tell me honestly." She yelled at her brunette companion, before she felt a hand grab her ass from behind. Her eyes narrowed as she quickly pulled one of her handguns from one of her holsters and stuck the barrel under the groper's chin, before cocking the hammer back with her thumb. "Just try it buddy. I'm through being nice to assholes like you." She said menacingly without even bothering to look at the perp. Almost instantaneous, the wolf calls and the groping ended.

Slightly unnerved, Jay sighed before answering.

"You look very sexy and bad-ass. Hell, I couldn't even look at you without having naughty thoughts running through my head." Jay explained quickly as Cherea began twirling her drawn semi-automatic handgun around her right trigger finger. After he finished, he hung his head down his face a bright crimson in color.

"Really? You think I look…" Cherea smiled as she took a pause, "sexy and bad-ass? That's the best compliment that you've given me." She then slid her drawn pistol into its holster and ran around the giant fountain towards the main gate. Turning back she playfully taunted: "Hurry up, Jay."

The brown haired boy sighed as he chased after her.

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The duo eventually made it to the front gate. Waiting for them was Instructor Irvine Kinneas.

"DAD!?! You're the teacher taking Jay through the Fire Cavern." Cherea asked freezing up when she saw Irvine loading a shell into his Exeter shotgun.

"Cherea, whatcha doing here?" Irvine asked, obviously confused at the appearance one of his twin daughters with the son of one of his closest friend. "And what are ya wearing?"

Jay raised his hands in mock surrender, as he started speaking: "Excuse me, Mister Kinneas. I really don't want to make this conversation anymore awkward than it already is. I'm Cherea's best friend and roommate." Irvine's eyes instantly narrowed and grew cold as it turned towards Jay as he brought his silver shotgun to bear on the brown-haired boy.

"What did ya do to my daughter!?!" Irvine interrogated as he kept the very deadly shotgun pointed at the boy.

"Both of you stop this right now." Cherea yelled as she charged into the middle of the escalating confrontation and stuck out her hands.

"CHEREA!!!" Both Irvine and Jay yelled to the defiant girl standing between them, with her arms extended.

"Daddy, _I_ made this outfit to give me the necessary agility and flexibility required for fighting." Cherea explained to her overly-protective father. "I'm old enough to join SeeD, you can't go around threatening my friends. Stop treating me like a child, I can fight my own battles." She threatened causing her father to lower his silver shotgun.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to see some boy hurt ya." Irvine said as he sulked about his daughter taking him down a few notches.

"Trust me, father I do a good enough job of keeping the perverts off me, without you or mom scaring them off." Cherea replied as she pulled one of her handguns out of its holster and twirled it around her finger. "I'm not a helpless little girl anymore."

"Fine, you win. Now explain what you're doing here?" Irvine asked as he slung the silver shotgun over his shoulder, causing Jay to flinch.

"I'm going with you two to take the Fire Cavern test." Cherea answered a-matter-of-factly.

"How ya figure that?" Irvine asked his very determined daughter.

"According to Revised Garden Code Section 41, Article 22. Due to an increase of quality SeeD cadets being brought into Balamb Garden, parties of up to three students and a single qualified SeeD Instructor may partake in the Fire Cavern Pre-test. However, the Instructor must rate each student separately, for their final score on the Field Exam. I've already asked Jay to take the test with him, and he said 'yes.'" Jay started to interrupt, but was quickly cut off by Cherea's glare.

"Hahaha." Irvine laughed as he stood there watching Jay and Cherea bicker back-and-forth. "Fine, ya win. Check ya junctions and ya gear. We'll leave when ya'll are ready." The older man said before turning his back on the two teens and he checked his spells. _Cure, Check. Shell, Check. Full-Life, Check. Okay now, I'm set._

Jay closed his eyes to contact his GF, Quezacoatl. _Are you ready to face Ifrit again? __**Yes, I am ready.**__ Good._ He smiled at the thought. _Okay, now what spells do I have with me?_ He wondered: _I've got Cure, Thunder, Protect and Scan. I wish I had some Ice or Water spells, since we are going to the 'Fire' Cavern._ He sighed at his lack of preparedness.

Cherea casually slid a clip into one of her pistols and pulled the slide back to chamber a round into the weapon. She effortlessly twirled the pistol around her trigger finger before sliding it into its resting spot, her holster. She repeated the process with her second one, before mediating to speak to Shiva. _So we set to go kick, some fire demon GF butt?_ She asked her GF, only to feel the Ice Maiden, Shiva sigh. _Was it something I said?_

"I'm ready! 3" Cherea said enthusiastically dancing as she waited for Jay.

"Just like her mother. Ya can never tell when she was being serious. She was always blissfully dancing even when fighting Galbadian Soldiers with her giant nunchaku." Irvine remarked as he reminisced.

"Instructor, I cannot help but wonder since you are referring to Cherea's mom in past tense, is Mrs. Kinneas dead?" Jay asked the older man. Both Cherea and her father broke out into laughter.

"Mom's the headmaster of the rebuilt Trabia Garden. She also teaches 'Introduction to Elemental Magic' there." Cherea answered for her father, still dancing.

"Oh…okay. Well, let's get going, I'm ready." Jay said looking a little confused.

"Yay!" Cherea said as she stuck out both of her arms out and ran out on the plains of Balamb Island, pretending to be an airplane.

"Cherea, wait up!" Jay yelled as ran after his childish roommate.

Irvine just laughed at the scene before following after the two teens.

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End of Chapter 1.

Next Chapter: The Fire Cavern

(A/N) Thanks for reading, I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I get it written, reviewed, and edited. Adieu.


	2. The Fire Cavern

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8. I only own the rights to my substantial Original Character Cast. If you are looking for a story involving a lot of The Original Game characters, look elsewhere. I hate being constrained by the original characters.**

**To everyone else, enjoy.**

**Rated: M for Language, adult themes and violence for later chapters, for now it is for safety.**

**Special thanks goes out to Xianghua4Kilik, for being my beta-reader, and my real-life friends from my high school days who inspired an FF8 character, the list is too long to mention.**

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The trio easily made their way towards the Fire Cavern, a single pair of Balamb guards guarded the entrance to the cave.

"I see someone decided to tag-along in accordance to Garden Code Section 41, Article 22." One of the guards said disapprovingly, the second one looked at the group.

"Your objective is to obtain your personal GF within the time-limit, please select a time limit that is both challenging yet reasonable."

Jay turned his head towards the petite gunslinger beside him as if to ask her a question.

"Cherea, what do you think? I'm leaning towards twenty minutes."

"Sounds good to me" She said with a big smile on her face.

Turning to face the Garden Guards, Jay performed the SeeD salute before giving his response.

"We will need twenty minutes."

"Irvine Kinneas, Instructor 45. I will be observing and offering support." The middle-aged cowboy said as he hefted the deadly Exeter shotgun.

"Very good." One of the guards said before they both stepped out of the way.

"Good luck."

Jay and Cherea casually walked into the fiery, lava-filled cavern, with Irvine close behind them.

"Damn is it hot in here or is it just me?" Cherea remarked as she started fanning her face with her right hand.

"I thought that it was me." Irvine piped in from behind the prankster duo, a solitary bead of sweat rolled down Jay's brow.

"Yea right dad." Cherea remarked dismissingly as they walked further into the cavern.

"Burned by your own daughter, that's got to suck." Jay commented as he chased after his _'slightly'_ crazy roommate, Irvine hung his head and sighed.

"Be careful of the Bombs, ya'll." Irvine yelled to the two wayward teenagers.

"I hope that I never acted like they do." He spoke to himself, with a heavy heart.

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"Be careful of the Bombs, ya'll." The middle-aged cowboy voice rang in the dark cave.

Cherea turned to Jay with an intrigued look on her face "I didn't see any explosive devices rigged to the cave."

Suddenly, a fireball flew past them, causing both to jump out of surprise.

"Holy shit!" Jay called out as he drew the katana on his hip, as if to cause the two teenagers even more confusion, the fireball stopped in mid-air and turned around revealing a wide grinning face and two stubby arms.

"What the hell is that fireball thingy?" Cherea asked her dark-haired companion as she pulled one of her handguns from its holster.

"How the hell should I know?" Jay replied angrily, before placing his free hand over his mouth and said, "Scan."

A ridiculous amount of information poured into Jay's mind as the spell worked its magic on the brown haired boy.

"It's a Bomb, hit it with Ice magic!" Jay exclaimed as the effects of the spell wore off.

"That's no bomb…" Cherea said as she reached into her 'little sack of goodies' and pulled out a hand grenade with a strip of blue tape wrapped around it. She held it up to Jay, so that he could see it "Now this is a bomb!"

She brought the grenade to her mouth and pulled the pin with her teeth, she pulled her arm back and with practiced grace, threw the grenade towards the hovering fireball.

The Fiery Bomb monster decided at the moment to let loose a mighty roar, the grenade flew casually into the Bomb monster's mouth and exploded. The fiery Bomb monster quickly turned a shade of blue and fell to the ground with a loud crack, like the sound of ice cracking.

Jay just stood there dumbfounded.

"Yes test of prototype Freeze Grenade Mark 6 is a SUCCESS!" The petite pistol ace said triumphantly before she pointed her drawn handgun at the flash-frozen Bomb and pulled the trigger.

The ten-millimeter round struck true and shattered the crystallized Bomb into a thousand irregular shards.

"Nice shot, daughter." Irvine called as he casually rejoined the group.

"Jay my boy, you're slacking." He said coldly to the brunette boy, causing the boy to hang his head in shame.

"Don't worry about it, buddy." Cherea said to the depressed brunette boy, "There is plenty of time for you to show off your skills" She said finishing with a wink, which brought a smile to the brunette boy.

"Now I'm psyched, thanks Cherea." Jay said as he slid his katana back into his scabbard.

The sound of wings flapping quickly filled the cave as a swarm of Red Bats flew towards the invaders of their home.

"Jay, these are Red Bats, they are small and agile, don't bother using ya swords, ya won't be able to hit them." Irvine ordered as he reached into his coat pocket for some eight-gauge 'scatter shot' shells, he had a feeling that the teens were going to need all the help that they could get.

"Thunder." Jay whispered as static electricity formed around his hand, growing before instantly striking and frying a Red Bat.

Cherea and Irvine aimed their respective firearms towards the approaching swarm.

Gunfire and mass castings of Thunder tore into the massive swarm, rapidly thinning the ranks of the annoying bats.

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"That was fun…" Jay remarked, breathing heavily.

"…fun…" Cherea said sitting down to reload her handguns.

"Well we're almost there." Irvine said as he tossed Jay a Potion.

"Ya need to be at your best, to win your fight."

Jay just stared at the glowing liquid in the small transparent plastic bottle, contemplating on whether or not to drink the glowing liquid, he quickly pulled out the cork stopper and downed the entire contents.

"Aggh…"Jay said as his face puckered up after drinking the foul liquid, "That tasted like ass."

"Who's ass have you been tasting?" Cherea questioned, causing Jay's face to blush.

"It was a figure of speech, Cherea." Jay replied, obviously embarrassed.

"Leave the poor kid alone, daughter." Irvine piped up, before turning to the brunette swordsman and said, "Although, I never would have pegged ya for a kiss-ass."

Cherea broke out into laughter, as Jay once again hung his head in despair.

"Poor Jay, we keep on picking on him." Cherea skipped over to Jay and gave him a hug causing Jay to blush.

"Okay, lovebirds, let's go." Irvine called out to the two teens, as he slung his silver shotgun over his shoulder, Cherea blushed at her father's statement, however Jay's face was already red from the previous conversation.

The two blushing teenagers, and the cowboy made their way to the center of the cavern, there they saw a beautiful middle-aged raven-haired woman dressed in blue.

"Mom? Why are you here at the pre-test?" Jay exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Where is Ifrit? I thought that we had to defeat him for the pre-test?"

"Hello Jay." The raven-haired woman said warmly, "You see, since the Time Compression incident, we have learned so much more about Guardian forces. The main thing that we have learned in the last couple of years is that everyone is born with a Guardian Force tied to their soul. This pre-test is where we unlock your soul-linked GF." Rinoa said as she activated her Sorceress Power, a pair of magical white angel wings appeared from her back. "Now which one of you wants to challenge your Guardian Force, first?"

Jay stepped forward confidently.

"I will go first, mom."

"Okay, good luck." Rinoa said as she cast the spell to summon the spirit-linked GF.

Suddenly, an armored warrior riding a white six-legged horse wielding a spear appeared in the center of the platform.

"I am reborn, I am Odin." The warrior said as he looked at the group.

"To him who doth vanquish me, I grant my august powers." The warrior continued as he noticed Jay. "Excellent, this is the day that I have long waited for, this will be a glorious battle, prepare thyself." With that the armored GF leapt off his horse, Sleipnir.

Jay drew both swords and linked them together, twirling his weapon before adopting his battle stance.

"For honor…Let us fight." The GF spoke as he brought up his spear in preparation to throw.

"Come at me, with all of your might." The mighty warrior GF ordered as he stood steadfast.

Jay charged forward swinging the exotic double sword in a wide arc, before flicking his wrist causing the weapon to spin around his fingers before swinging the weapon in the opposite direction.

"Hit me with your best attack" Odin demanded, "Show me that you are the one who I was destined to follow."

"Kenzozuken…" Jay said coldly as he dashed towards the warrior GF, slashing the GF twice as he executed an infinity loop strike, followed by spinning it over his back as he ducked down to attack from an unpredictable angle, and finishing with a rising roundhouse kick to the GF's stomach to stun him momentarily, this vicious attack was immediately followed Jay separating his two swords and scissor-striking the stunned GF.

"Impressive, but not enough, Gungnir" Odin said as he pulled his spear back and threw it with all of his might at the boy.

"Jay!" Rinoa and Cherea screamed as the spear struck true and drew blood from the brown-haired boy, who remained standing, his double sword slipped from his fingers and fell to the earthen cavern floor, blood ran down Jay's shirt staining it

"Interesting, you are the first to survive a hit from Gungnir." Odin said with a smile.

"It appears that you have a few more tricks up your sleeves, Return Gungnir" the warrior GF said causing the deadly spear to fly back to his armored hand. "So my attack succeeded, but can you take another?" Odin said noticing the tip of the spear had some of his future summoner's blood on it.

Jay winced from the pain in his stomach, where the spear's head had penetrated him, dyeing his sky blue dress shirt red.

"You know what Odin, I really don't give a shit about destiny and stuff like that" Jay said coldly as he silently cast a Cure spell. His anger rose, causing electricity to flow irregularly from his body, surrounding him like an aura spell.

"Right now, I don't give a shit about giving you a glorious battle, I just want you to disappear!" He yelled as he channeled every ounce of lightning magic into a single magical attack, the whole area went white, as the lightning magic went off.

Rinoa, Cherea, and Irvine turned their heads to avoid being blinded by the light.

"My defeat was foreseen…thou art truly strong" The Armored Warrior GF said as fell to his knees, the large hole in his chest slowly closing as he was healing. "I grant thee my power, to use as you see fit." the mighty GF said as he returned to the dimension from which he was summoned from.

"…Whatever." Jay said coldly, causing Irvine and Rinoa to burst out laughing.

"You definitely take after your father" Rinoa said in between her laughter, "When I first met him, he was so cold, I could probably chill a drink by sticking it in his pocket."

A thousand questions ran through Cherea's mind, most of them involving candy, but one involved the identity her friend's father, his relationship to hers and why they were laughing about a cold, dismissive statement.

"By the way Jay, it took ya ten minutes to defeat Odin, and believe me that is an impressive feat." Irvine said as he typed into a data pad.

Jay reached down to pick up his dropped weapon only to pass out and collapse next to his double sword.

"Jay!" Rinoa cried out as she ran over to her passed out son and cast a sorceress empowered Curaga on the boy, the bleeding stopped, but he didn't awaken. "Wake up Jay…" She said to her passed out son.

"Rin, I think that he is fine, just exhausted, after all he did defeat Odin of all GFs. You remember when we fought him, right, at least then we had Squall and his Lionheart gunblade." Irvine said attempting to calm down the panicking Sorceress.

'_That is the last thing we need a panicking Sorceress, the cowboy thought, since her powers are tied to her emotions'_ realizing that this situation could only get worse, he turned to Rinoa.

"Hey Rin, I'll watch over your boy, just calm down, ya need to focus on the task at hand, only you can pull people's spirit-linked guardian forces from their subconscious."

Upon hearing this Rinoa began using a relaxation technique to try and calm her nerves.

After a few minutes of deep breathing, Rinoa stood back up and walked over to Cherea and asked "Are you ready to face your inner GF?"

Cherea nodded before walking over to her passed out roommate, and pulled a small capsule out of her item pouch. As she knelt down beside her passed out roommate, she snapped capsule and waved it under the boy's nose, his eyes immediately opened, as tears rolled down his face.

"What the hell was that god-awful smell?" He said angrily.

"Sulfur" Cherea answered with a smile as she stood up and drew one of her pistols, from its holster under her left arm. "Jay, Watch me kick my guardian force's butt." She said as she stepped towards Rinoa "I'm ready to kick GF butt."

"Okay" Rinoa said still trying to calm down, "Here it comes."

As soon as she said, a fifty foot long wooden boat with a single large propeller and a few smaller ones on top appeared.

Everyone stared at the wooden boat GF, with mixed feelings, Irvine hit the stop watch to start his clock.

"What the hell!" Cherea yelled in anger and disappointment, "I've got to fight a fricking flying boat?"

"FOOLISH MORTALS!" The _'boat'_ cried out, "I AM ARK."

"Shut up, Ark…" Cherea said pissed off that the Guardian Force that was pulled out of her mind was a stupid flying wooden boat. She aimed her pistol at the flying boat and calmly squeezed the trigger, the tiny projectile pierced the wooden planks causing practically no damage. She blinked as she looked at the target of her hatred and despair, the flying wooden boat, and then at the handgun in her right hand.

'_Oh man, compared to that thing, anything I do to it, would be the equivalence to using a peashooter.'_

With a sigh, she holstered her pistol and reached into her item pouch, pulling out a pair of hand grenades with red tape wrapped the center of them. Holding a grenade in each hand, she brought the two grenades close together and pulled the safety pins with her index fingers. Both safety levers flew off as she chucked the two grenades at the flying boat. The grenades sailed onto the deck of the ship, bouncing twice before detonating, covering the airship GF, in a fiery gel.

"Experimental incendiary grenades, Mark Five and Mark Six, successful." Cherea yelled triumphantly at the airship GF.

"AAARRRGGGGHHH!" The '_flying boat'_ cried out in pain.

"CURSE YOU, GIRL! I NOW HAVE TO REVEAL MY TRUE FORM, IN ORDER TO DEFEAT YOU." the Airship said as it began to transform into a flying robot with wooden angel-like wings, everyone blinked in surprise at the GF's true form. Cherea was the first to break the silence.

"AWESOMENESS." The technology loving teenager yelled, with hearts in her eyes. "You can transform!?!" She asked pulling out an Estharian multi-tool from her belt. "I wonder if you are more machine than Guardian Force?" She said as she walked towards the transforming robot GF, tools in hand. "I hope so, so that I can take you apart and rebuild you" She said with hearts in her eyes as she smiled maniacally.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME, GIRL!" Ark spoke almost panicking at the thought of being taken apart by the crazy girl before him. "I CONCEED, I SHALL JOIN YOU" Robotic GF cried out in horror as Cherea came closer, talking.

"Come on, I just want to see how you tick."

Fleeing from its master, Ark flew up and disappeared into a bright light.

"Aw man…" Cherea said disappointed at the GF's disappearance, "I wanted to see how it was made, I wonder if I can change its form with my mind?" She said, sliding her multi-tool back into her belt.

"Um…ya two definitely had the weirdest ways to defeat ya GFs" Irvine said as he looked at the watch, it read ten minutes, twenty seconds and seventy-two milliseconds remaining. "But ya both pass. Congrats." He said as he helped Jay to his feet.

Jay turned to his dirty blonde roommate "Congratulations on getting your guardian force, Cherea." Calmly he picked up his double sword and after separating his two blades, slid them into their respective sheathes "Let's head back to Garden, I'm exhausted. "

"Yea, I'm a little tired myself" She admitted.

"Want to get something to eat, when we get back?" Jay asked the petite gunslinger, earning him a big smile from the dirty blond tech geek.

That said the two teens headed back to Garden leaving the grown-ups to talk.

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"Ya think that my daughter has a soft spot for your son?" Irvine asked his raven-haired friend, after the two teens disappeared.

Rinoa smiled warmly but remained silent.

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After a few minutes of silently walking through the Balamb Plains, Jay suddenly broke the silence.

"Cherea, what's on your mind?"

"Nuthin'." She replied, her usually cheerful voice seemed, well dead. "I'm just hungry."

Noting that Cherea didn't seem to be in the talking mood, the duo headed back to Garden to plop down on their beds and sleep the rest of their day off.

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**Sorry, for the chapter my muse ran out at the last minute. Next Chapter will be more comical.**

**Next Chapter: Killing Time or is Time Killing Us?**


	3. Randomness at Balamb Garden

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8. I only own the rights to my substantial Original Character Cast. If you are looking for a story involving a lot of The Original Game characters, look elsewhere. I hate being constrained by the original characters.**

**To everyone else, enjoy.**

**Rated: M for Language, adult themes and violence for later chapters, for now it is for safety.**

**Special thanks go out to ****Xianghua4Kilik****, for agreeing to be my Beta-Reader. Lord knows I needed one.**

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The trek back to Garden was uneventful for the two pranksters, neither one spoke the entire trip due to hunger.

Eventually, the duo passed through the iron gates and toward the Security Checkpoint a grizzled old man with a baseball cap on, stood by checking IDs, he smiled when he noticed Jay and Cherea approach.

"Oh no, look what the cat had dragged in" the man in the security booth said jokingly to the duo.

"Here comes trouble with a capital 'T', What are you up to, today?"

The duo paid the guard no mind as they tried to proceed through the gates, the metal barrier refused to budge as they pressed against it.

"You know for security purposes I have to check everyone's ID before they can enter" the old guard said with a smirk.

Jay pulled out his ID and placed it against the bullet-proof glass encasing the guard's post.

"Happy now, Stan?" Jay said to the guard, impatiently, the guard nodded, before turning to Cherea.

"You check out, Mister Heartily" Stan the guard said before turning to Cherea.

"Well hello beautiful, you're good to go, I don't need to see the ID of a beauty like yourself."

Jay groaned loudly as he pushed the metal barrier and marched into the main lobby.

Eyes turned towards Jay and his bloodstained shirt, two sophomores ran over to the duo, a green haired boy and a petite dark red haired girl, both of them no more than fifteen.

"Hey buddy you look like shit, you should go see the Doctor" the green haired boy in the Balamb Garden Uniform said as Jay and Cherea tried to walk past him.

"Thank you Captain Obvious" Jay replied sardonically, pissing off the green haired boy.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" The petite dark red-haired girl wearing the SeeD cadet uniform of Trabia Garden asked Jay, before he could respond the girl placed her right hand over the wound and it glowed white. The blood from his shirt began to get pulled from his shirt and into the light in her hand, while the tear in his shirt began to re-stitch itself up "I'm done. You're now good to go."

Jay looked down at his shirt in awe. _Wow, this sophomore fixed my shirt with magic. I'm impressed._

"Thank you. I'm Jay Heartily, a senior in the Sabers program" Jay said while extending his right hand, the petite redhead grabbed it and shook it "This is my best friend and roommate, Cherea Tilmitt."

"Hiya!" Cherea said giddily as she waved at the underclassmen.

"My name is Angela Fenix, Restore Magic Operative student" the short red-haired girl said politely before introducing the green haired boy behind her.

Jay gave the girl a look over, Angela was tiny, at barely over five foot two inches in height. Her cute face was framed by her medium length blood red hair, with a bang cutely feathered over her innocent-looking cherry colored eyes. The adorable way that the girl looked up at the swordsman, made him want to go kill a Grat or a T-Rexaur, just so that there would be one less monster to hurt the innocent medic. _Oh man, the amount of sap in my head is almost unbearable. How the hell can one girl exude so much cuteness, it's unnatural._ She was wearing the light blue Trabia Garden uniform with the purple ribbon tied into a bow around her neck, and a pink backpack shaped like a teddy bear strapped on her back.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, Angela and…Adam" Jay said attempting to regain his composure.

"Cherea and I just got back from taking the Fire Cavern Exam, and I…err, we are rather hungry, so we're going to get going to the cafeteria" Jay said while nudging Cherea with his arm.

At the mention of the Fire Cavern, Angela's eyes turned towards Jay to look at him in adoration. _Ah crap, not the adoring puppy eyes. I can resist anyone doing it but not this girl. She's so nauseatingly adorable._

"You took the Fire Cavern pre-test. Does that mean you are really strong, Jay?" Angela asked while cutely looking up at unruly brown-haired swordsman, with adoring eyes.

Cherea decided at that point to rejoin the conversation.

"Jay is really strong, for his test, he had to take on the legendary Guardian Force Odin" Cherea explained, causing Angela to look up at Jay with even more adoration. Jay could feel himself crumbling under the glare of the redhead's adorable cherry eyes.

"Wow, he beat Odin" Angela looked towards Jay with stars in her eyes "Can you teach me how to be strong, like you?"

Adam, the green-haired sophomore rolled his eyes at his friend's antics and began to walk away.

"Come on, Angela, we've got class with Instructor Xu Sorel in a couple of minutes" the boy said as he turned away and headed towards the central elevator.

Angela turned to look at the back of her friend and then back to look at Jay, her face scrunched up in indecision. Turning around to chase after her green haired friend, she flashed a heart-melting smile at Jay as she walked away.

"Adam, wait for me!" She called to the boy, as she ran after him.

Once Angela was out of earshot, Jay turned to Cherea and said. "That was weird."

"I thought that she was rather adorable," Cherea smiled before throwing in her two cents, "looking up to you, like you were some kind of hero."

"Whatever, let's go eat" Jay said as he began walking towards the cafeteria, leaving her standing there.

"You can be a real jerk sometimes, Jay" she yelled as she ran after him, he stopped and flashed her, a smile that seemed to say: "_you know it__"_It was the cockiest thing he did, and it drove her crazy.

---------------

The cafeteria was in an uproar over the _'new'_ elevator music, in a corner booth near the front of the

A giant, heavily muscular blond-haired student wearing a black SeeD-issue armored jumpsuit, with a single silver steel shoulder pad and armored gauntlet that encased his left arm and the right sleeve ripped off showing off his bulging arm muscles , stood by the booth yelling about the things that he planning to do to the person who set up the recording. Strapped to the student's back was an enormous double edged two-handed sword that would be more accurately described as slab of steel. The student's blond hair was styled in one inch spikes shaped like shark-teeth, his cerulean eyes revealed his anger. The student had both of his ears gauged, a single piercing on his right eye brow as well as the left nostril.

"I'm going to slaughter the son of a bitch who would dare embarrass me, You don't cross Ramathorn Stokes and get away with it!" The giant student said angrily attempting to establish his feelings.

"Don't worry Ramathorn," a tall dark brunette slightly older girl said trying to calm the berserk student, "you'll get your revenge, the honor of the Wolf Pack is at stake!"

Ramathorn looked down towards the brunette girl and gave her a cocky grin.

"Damn right it is! Thanks Sara." Ramathorn said to the brunette.

Sara Decante was the most feared girl in Balamb Garden, and for good reason, her family's wind-based sword style cut through pretty much anything even at a distance. She wore a pair of black denim pants, black leather riding boot, and a black spaghetti-strap tank-top, while a one-handed straight-bladed long sword hung in its sheath at her waist. Her short dark brown hair was cropped about an inch below her ears, the hair on the left side of her head was pulled behind her ear revealing four piercing running along the outside of her ear.

"With this arm and my Zweihänder, I will personally restore our honor" Ramathorn said confidently as he curled his arm to inspect his bicep muscle, "What do you guys say we go searching for the culprit?"

"I don't feel like it, today" A long haired teenager with emerald green eyes and silver hair said lazily as he leaned against the wall and propped his boot clad feet up, his polearm lying next to him.

Ramathorn's face scrunched up in disappointment before he turned towards the last member of the Wolf Pack.

"I know Sara is with me on this, Vortex is just lazy how do you stand, John?" Ramathorn said as he turned towards the other silver haired boy at the table.

"What is the point of that?" The other silver haired boy said coldly as he looked at the rest of the group with his piercing icy blue eyes, causing both Sara and Ramathorn to look at him in surprise.

"What do you mean by that, John?" Ramathorn asked confused by John's statement.

John Starslayer was known for being the most intelligent person to ever grace the gates of Garden, as well as for being the quickest and most intimidating. He wore his medium length silver hair down, cut in such a way, so that his piercing eyes could intimidate his opponent and when that failed his choice of clothing would do the demoralizing for him. He wore a black and silver vest with on an image of a Centran pyramid with an eye floating above it on his back, a pair of black leather pants, black fencer styled boots and a pair of black and silver bracers. However, the part that scared people was the way he fought, he seemed to store his silvery rapiers in some dimensional space from which he could summon them instantaneously defeat you in the amount of time you would blink an eye.

"Allow me to clarify for you simple minded individuals" John replied condescendingly, "I simply asked 'what is the point of searching for the culprits,' when I have already discovered the identity of them and when you think about it the answer is quite obvious. Then again _**thinking**_ requires infinitely more brainpower than any of you will ever have."

"So does that mean you'll tell me?" Ramathorn asked.

"Does the owl tell the lion how to hunt?" John replied sarcastically.

"Damnit quit playing mind games with me!" Ramathorn yelled in frustration, causing John to laugh.

"And **that** is the reason why I will always defeat you" John replied coldly. Ramathorn's eyes narrowed towards the five foot nine fencer in contempt, even Sara looked like she was about to enter the argument.

"All of you grow up, you are embarrassing me, and we are at the top of this year's class" the long haired boy said lazily as he stood up. "Ramathorn, control your temper, the last thing we need is for you to lose your temper and get yourself placed in solitary during the Field Exam, understand?"

"You're right Vortex, I'm the one tarnishing the good name of the Wolf Pack, forgive me" Ramathorn said to the silver-haired dragoon.

Vortex Venters was an enigmatic and charismatic figure in the senior class, he and Starslayer appeared out of nowhere and took the two most troubled students, Sara and Ramathorn, and created the Wolf Pack. The silver-haired polearm-user was wearing a black reinforced and weighted trench coat, black steel-toed boots, and a pair of black baggy pants with a pair of chain hanging from them. Around his neck he wore a steel chain necklace with a pendant of a wolf running. He wore the trench coat un-zipped revealing his perfectly defined body.

Cherea turned to say something to Jay when Vortex turned towards her and flirtatiously smiled at her, causing the dirty blond tech student to drool.

_There was a rumor around Garden, saying that he wore the jacket opened and without a shirt just to draw female attention to himself, _Jay remembered as he led the currently drooling Cherea away from the door.

"That never gets old with you does it, Vortex?" John whispered disinterestedly.

"Not at all, not even after all these years" Vortex replied casually to the fencer.

The rest of the Wolf Pack shook their heads in disapproval at their friend's flirtatious actions.

Ramathorn noticed his arch-rival in the line and turned to look at his constant companion, Sara.

"Let's blow this joint" He said as he left the table and headed towards the door.

"Sure, the air here started to stink" Sara said as she followed him out.

John and Vortex watched the two sword-users leave the cafeteria, before John broke the silence.

"When are you going to tell the idiot that you plan to recruit his arch-enemy into the group?"

Vortex scratched the silver stubble on his chin in contemplation.

"I haven't thought about it" Vortex answered, "I guess it depends on how the Field Exam turns out."

John hung his head and muttered remorsefully, "You don't want to know how it will unfold."

"You had another vision?" Vortex asked raising his left eyebrow up in curiosity.

"Only fragments…"

"I see that you are still as cryptic as always, but then again with what you see, I'd probably be the same way, well I feel like hunting down one of the T-Rexaurs in the Training Center, you wanna come?"

John hung his head and sighed.

"I'll pass" he said, "Since I know that you are really just doing that to tease the girls."

Vortex hung his head in despair.

"Am I really that easy to figure out?"

"Yes"

"You should still come, you never know, you might see a girl that might interest you."

"Fine, if only to shut you up, I'll go."

"That's the spirit" Vortex said as he led his blue-eyed fencer friend towards the Training Center.

----------------------------

The wait time for the line for food in the cafeteria was horrendous. Probably, because it was Instructor Dincht's feeding time. The thirty-seven year old martial artist walked over to the register with a tray full of Balamb hotdogs, earning a groan from half of the waiting students.

"What the hell?" Someone in the line cried out, "I've been waiting to try one of Balamb's famous hotdogs for three years."

Jay sighed at the person's rant as he thought, _Oh dear, these people need a hobby__, no__ hotdog is worth the aggravation of showing up an hour before lunch starts to wait in line._

--------------------------

Ten minutes later…

"So what can I get you?" The lunch lady asked the prankster duo.

Jay looked up at the menu contemplating what to order, while Cherea enthusiastically answered, while randomly dancing.

"Two BLTs please!"

A small bead of sweat rolled down the side of the lunch lady's forehead.

"Okay…" The lunch lady said before turning to the brown haired boy, "What about you?"

"Hmm…I'm in the mood for a double bacon cheeseburger and fries."

"Okay, give me a couple minutes to make 'em" the lunch lady replied before throwing some meat onto the hot grill behind the table.

The sound of sizzling meat followed by its mouth-watering aroma wafting from the grill, seemed to only make the two pranksters' stomach rumble impatiently, to them the time it took for their food to cook seemed like an eternity.

The lunch lady handed the two trays to the two hungry teens, before turning to take the next student's order, Jay and Cherea walked quickly to the register so that they could pay for their meals.

"Can I see your IDs?" The guy at the register said holding up the hand scanner, Jay and Cherea pulled their Garden ID cards out of their pocket and handed them to the register attendant.

"_**Beep, **__**beep**_" the machine whined as the attendant scanned both identification cards in succession.

"Have a good afternoon you two" the attendant said before motioning for them to walk away.

-------------

Jay and Cherea were about to sit down at a vacant table when a girl with light brown hair called to them.

"Sis, come sit with us, and bring your boyfriend with you."

Cherea blushed a little at the statement, before leading Jay over to the table, at the table sat two girls and a guy.

"For the record, Jay is my friend and roommate, not my boyfriend" Cherea explained.

The other two girls looked at each other and laughed.

"If he's not taken, how about you set me up with him, sis? He's really cute" the girl with light brown hair asked Cherea.

"Um…please stop talking as if I'm not here" Jay said as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, causing the other girl, a blonde to turn his way.

"Don't pay her any mind" the blonde said, before politely and gracefully extending her right hand, "My name is Kristina, Kristina Almasy."

If someone wanted to see a picture of the perfect SeeD cadet, Kristina would've probably been the closest to that ideal, she was easily the tallest of three girls standing at about five foot nine, she was dressed in a white sleeveless duster with a single red stylized cross on its back and a pair of red angel wings on either side of the cross. Which she wore over the top of a red spaghetti-strap tank-top, and a pair of white dress-pants with a red wing facing outward on the bottom of her pant legs. A pair of silvery, jewel encrusted arm bracers covered her slender but toned forearms, her long blond hair hung loose and trailed down her back like liquid gold, her baby blue eyes hid a gentle sharpness that seemed to threaten anyone a world of pain if they crossed her. At her side was a slender Hyperion-style gunblade barely contained within its sheath.

"Jay Heartily, pleased to meet you" Jay replied as he smiling at the blonde gunblade-user.

Cherea's sister looked from Jay to Kristina before deciding to intervene.

"Hey Jay, the name's Heather. I'm Cherea's twin sister" the girl with the light brown hair interjected.

Jay was taken aback by the brunette's forwardness.

Heather was about an inch taller than Cherea, and she seemed so be more "stable" than her sister, who had at that moment decided to stare at a white butterfly that seemed to have flown into the cafeteria probably from the Quad. Heather was dressed in a red sleeveless denim jacket, a pair of red denim cut-off shorts and a pair of brown motorcycle boots that ended about an inch below her knees. She had her light brown hair pulled back into a simple ponytail, while her brown eyes seemed to glow with confidence. A small cylinder was strapped to the back of her shorts.

"Heather, do you have to flirt with every guy that you see" the last member and only guy of the group, besides Jay, said from his seated position at the table.

"Only the cute guys!" Heather stated dismissively to the seated boy.

Jay turned to look at the boy, only to be shocked at the boy's identity.

"I know you, you're in my Military History class with Quistis Trepe. I can't believe that I forgot your name…" Jay said pointing at the boy.

The boy extended an armored gauntlet to Jay.

"Argon Reinhahrt, Paladin of the Holy Order of Saint Andrew" he spoke through his respirator mask.

Argon was a powerfully built man of about six foot three, He was clad in a set of custom-made abbreviated adamantine plate armor that featured a sword-shaped cross of some unreflective black material on both shoulder pads as well as the left side of his breastplate. A black mesh body sleeve of some unknown material was worn underneath his armor to cover the rest of his body and protect where the adamantine plate failed to cover. Argon's long golden blond hair was parted so that it covered and effectively hid his left eye and the large scar covering it, while a respirator mask covered his mouth and nose, giving him a deep, raspy voice. Strapped to his right hip was a custom Lionheart style gunblade with a thicker double-edged forked adamantine blade and a black unreflective stylized cross on both sides of the blade.

"Pleased to meet you, Argon and Heather" Jay said politely, before turning towards Cherea and sighing before sitting down to enjoy his food.

Heather looked over to her twin with a smile and asked, "Hey Cherea, the new bar in Balamb is having Karaoke night tonight you want to go?"

Cherea's eyes turned towards her sister and they lit up like light bulbs at the mention of karaoke.

"Hell yeah!" Cherea said as she enthusiastically leapt out of her chair to do a 'happy' dance, "Karaoke night, Karaoke night, yay!"

Jay just shook his head, she always had to do something to embarrass him at least once a day.

"That's it Cherea, I'm going to take away your candy and soda!" Jay yelled frustrated.

"But…but…I'm cute" Cherea said while giving Jay the 'sad puppy eyes.'

Jay just blinked twice before Cherea gave up using the technique.

"Jerky-pants," Cherea said pouting as she sat back in her chair and began eating her two BLTs "Meany"

"Caffeine junkie" Jay retorted causing rest of the table to erupt into laughter as the two pranksters kept the insults flying.

"Super duper Meany."

"Guns geek."

"Static cling."

"Flying boat owner."

"Mister Freeze."

Jay blinked three times before scrunching his face up in confusion.

"Whatever..." He said as he gave up the name-calling game.

"Yay that's two for me" Cherea said with a smile on her face.

"If you guys want to come bring one hundred gil and meet me at the garage at 2030 hours tonight." Heather said as she, Argon, and Kristina stood up to leave.

Jay looked towards Heather and them curiously.

"What's the gil for?" He asked.

Cherea looked at him and answered cutely "That's for the hotel room, we're going to stay at the hotel tonight since the school gets locked down after 2100 hours, silly goose."

Jay hung his head in disappointment at missing the obvious answer.

"We'll see you there…" Jay said as he continued to work on his meal.

A few minutes passed before the prankster pair finished their meal.

"I'm really sleepy" Cherea said as she stretched her arms back and let loose a loud yawn.

Jay nodded in agreement, before taking the trays and dumping them, his two swords bouncing up and down in their sheaths with every step he took, Cherea followed close behind him as they headed back to their dorm.

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**This is just random filler from my head. I like reviews like I like my drinks, Hard and undiluted, so give your opinions to me straight. Laterz.**


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